Previs – Game Logic

The key use of the previs is so that I can block out the logic of the scenes. It also means that I am able to start determining which objects the player will be able to interact with and by what means this is possible. I will use Arrow prompts for navigational interaction within the game allowing the player to go from one scene to the next with a camera switch action.

The remaining interactions that will possible will be set up using hotspots. These hotspots will allow the player to interact with that particular area of the screen or object. A highlight script can also be attached to the object in question and linked to the hotspot so that the object itself will also glow when the player brings the cursor over the hotspot.

During the course of creating the previs I have been making AC (Adventure Creator) Game cameras so that I can define each scene area by what is visible within the camera in question. I also have the option to have an animated game camera which I can animate in Unity. This was the method I used to make the camera move in the previs videos seen previously.

Solving potential problems by experimenting with different things I want to be able to achieve in AC is a vital process where I am able to work out if certain methods are feasible and the best way to proceed with these problems I will run into these kind of problems throughout the whole duration of the project but it is useful to work out the majority of them I may hit now. Brainstorming has also been a good way to work out my best approach to a lot of the game logic and filtering out what options are available to me and how I may use them to the best of my ability to get the most valuable results.

After feedback from Greg when aspects have been cut or changed from the project I am able to carry this out digitally also and edit the previs to the stage it needs to be at. This enables me to see if scenes are removed how the flow of the journey will work and how the player gets from A to B. So far I have had to cut out some scenes and add new ones to keep the previs up to date.

ActionLists are created throughout the process of making arrow prompts, hotspots, interactions, cameras. The ActionLists are a place were I am able to define the actual game logic with a series of actions that will be triggered when I tell them to causing an event. A series of events creates the gameplay which is blocked out using game logic which is also a kind of programming previs.

During the course of the game logic I was experimenting with the subtitles to see the kind of menu’s available to me as we had spoken about a speech bubble that would display pieces of information on screen. This is possible through the use of dialogue : play speech action set to narration and the menu and menu elements being told to turn on when required.

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Reflection –

I feel that using previs in order to establish the game logic is a good way of developing this game further. I think that the sooner I get the game logic programmed now then the more time I will have to run into problems and be able to solve them as I have learned that is what programming is like.

Also as I am managing my time to get the game logic done sooner rather than later then it also gives me more time to help the guys out with modelling, UVing and texturing as I have a some experience in them from placement I may be of use to them also in turn speeding up the production process.

I feel like there is a knowledge gap between us due to the different kinds of placements and experiences we have had on our time on the course but our challenge now is to come together as a team and teach and help each other as much as we can to achieve a functional game contributed to by everyone.